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Police warn of muggings near Ringer Park in Allston

The Daily Free Press reports BU Police are warning students about getting mugged on Allston Street near Ringer Park - there have been three street robberies in on Allston between Comm. Ave. and Brighton Avenue over the past month.

Comments

One would think that with the shooting death a short while back, and a continuous string of Allston St/Ringer Park muggings (I am not just referring to the three mentioned here) that the police could simply station a beat cop who walks around the park and bounding streets, such as Gordon and Allston Street.

This would be relatively cheap in terms of manpower - and significantly reduce ones chance of being attacked.

DO BPD even use such methods? Or are all their butts pasted to the seat in their cruisers? Because it seems they do not assign neighborhood cops the way it was once done, and as such they are unable to prevent most street crime - merely follow up fruitlessly after the fact. If they have one posted to that area in such a manner I apologize but I've lived right by there for over 14 years and not seen a single one on foot (or bike or even very often in cars).

While they're at it said police could also do some work at chasing away the junkies and drug dealers that congregate around Comm and Warren, virtually adjacent to the park.

situation, because of course it really isn't. It's the fault of whoever is jumping people, and to some degree whoever raised them.

That said, I live in Boston, grew up in Boston, Somerville, and NYC. I spend a fair amount of my time these days in Cambridge and am frequently in Brookline. My impression is Cambridge is a veritable police state by comparison to Boston. You frequently see police presence. Sure, there's infamous Central Scare and the 'scary' [Boo!] homeless who congregate there, and there's the various projects, but interestingly they all pale by comparison to certain neighborhoods in Boston a few miles away. A MASSIVE level of police presence is required in a few 'Hot Spots' around Boston, and in and around all housing projects, which are the direct cause of so much violent crime in the neighborhoods that surround them and the city as a whole. You see a large police presence in places like West Roxbury simply because many cops live there. But there are many places in Boston, including tourist hotspots and the downtown core/Back Bay/Beacon Hill area,where you could be forgiven if you forgot what Boston Police actually look like; usually the only time you'll see them is if there's private detail work in the vicinity. Allston has always been pretty notorious in this regard, and I suspect this is partially because Boston Police and city officials rely heavily on university police departments due to the large student population.

None of the above excuse the city and police department from doing the job residents and businesses pay them to do. They of course should be able to provide good levels of policing over the entire city, but it's obvious they can't. In regards to Allston, I've always thought if it was it's own town/city like say Somerville or Brookline, of even if it were a part of Brookline, it would be better off, and have better municipal services.

They used to have to warn them about murder near Ringer Park. But I guess the fact that Kanagala's killer hasn't been found yet isn't any reason to do more than warn about a few robberies in that same area a few months later.